With a few ingredients from my weekly organic fruit and veggie delivery I make it just on time to join the party with my adaptation of a well-known classic – a hearty winter dish with lots of warming flavors:

Turnip Mulligatawny

Ingredients

1 medium turnip, peeled

2 large carrots, scrubbed

1 tablespoon rendered duck fat (see ingredient notes below)

100 g shallots, sliced

1 small bunch of parsley, coarsely chopped (set aside a few leaves for garnish)

1 green, hard cooking pear

about 1200 ml homemade chicken stock

2 tablespoons Thai curry powder (see ingredient notes)

250 ml unsweetened coconut milk (from a can or carton)

1 tablespoon tomato paste

salt and pepper, as needed

4 large shallots, sliced thinly – for garnish

2 tablespoons butter

First, cut 4 thin slices, about 0.5 cm thick, from the center of the carrots, and 2 thin slices of the same thickness from the turnip. Cut these into fine cubes and set aside. In the soup pot, sauté 100 g shallots in the rendered duck fat, then add chopped vegetables and parsley. Stir, until the turnip cubes brown slightly, sprinkle with the curry powder, sauté for a minute or so and add the tomato paste and coconut milk. Meanwhile, heat half of the butter in a small pan and sauté the cubed veggies until they are softened but still crunchy – set aside.

Add chicken stock to the soup pot, bring to a boil and let simmer for 45-60 minutes (veggies should be tender).

Puree the soup in batches or with a stick blender, season with salt and pepper – this may need more or less salt according to the saltiness of the stock used.

Remove the veggie cubes from pan, add remaining butter to the pan, and slowly brown the sliced shallots until golden brown and a bit crispy.

I used a „Thai“ curry powder from a local spice vendor, it has an orange-red color and a hint of galanga and lemongrass, but isn’t awfully hot. Substitue your favorite mild curry powder.

While I used rendered duck fat and homemade chicken stock which I happened to have at hand, I am sure this can be made completely vegetarian and even vegan, if you substitute oil for the butter and fats, and use veggie stock.